Grilled Fish Recipes

Grilling lends the fish flavor profile a smoky and sometimes lightly charred element. This is particularly true of skin-on fish, where the layer of fat just below the skin melts and creates the oil needed for frying and crisping of the skin. Grilled fish tends to go very well with barrel-aged white wines, but you don’t have to stick to only Chardonnay. Barrel-aged Sauvignon Blanc can be superb with grilled fish, as can Chenin Blanc. A barrel-aged example from South Africa would make for a seamless pairing.

Some of the most popular and most flavorful grilled fish dishes are made with the meatier fish varieties like salmon and tuna. These hardier fish create a great opportunity to break out your red wines. Not only do the char and smokiness of the grill make for pairing ease, moderating the effects that oak aging has on red wines, but both of these fish tend to have meaty flavor profiles, making them particularly adaptable when pairing with wine.

Both tuna and salmon pair very well with lighter-styled Pinot Noir, and those from Oregon, Burgundy and New Zealand are all prime candidates. These wines tend to be on the lighter side with higher acidity, and it is these two characteristics that make this pairing work. With tuna, other options are certainly open to creativity. Lighter-bodied Syrah wines can match the meatiness of tuna with their own gamy nature while adding savory notes of olives and herbs that accentuate the flavors of tuna.